Anyone who has survived a serious injury knows the various physical, emotional, and financial hardships you face when you’re hurt.
These difficulties can bring your daily life to a halt, and you may not be able to move forward until you receive some measure of justice.
Although there’s no quick fix for every type of physical harm you might experience, California courts do provide accident victims with the chance to recover compensation for their injuries.
If you believe you’ve been hurt because of someone else’s actions, contact a San Jose accident lawyer at Golden State Lawyers, APC today.
Common Types of Injury-Causing Accidents
San Jose accident victims suffer their injuries in a number of contexts. Some of these include the following:
- Motor Vehicle Accidents – For all of the comfort we derive from modern-day car safety features, motor vehicle accidents have actually increased in number in recent years. Whether you were hit by a truck, bus, motorcycle, or the driver of a compact or mid-sized vehicle, you may be eligible for compensation.
- Premises Liability – If you find yourself injured on someone else’s property due to the San Jose property owner’s negligence, you may have cause for a premises liability suit. While you will have to specifically identify the cause of your harm, a wide variety of perils can be cited, from a wet floor to a dog biting you.
- Product Liability – Defects in products may be much less common than they were decades ago, but no manufacturer can ever be perfect in terms of quality control. If you’ve been hurt by a consumer product, whether through a foreign object in your packaged food or your car’s brakes malfunctioning, you may want to consider filing a product liability claim.
- Work Accidents – Many feel hesitant to sue their employer when they experience a catastrophic work accident; they’re worrying that they’ll bankrupt their own firm. Furthermore, many take solace in the fact that workers compensation is usually there, as modest as its benefits may be. Ultimately, though, in the case of a serious work accident, you may deserve more than what workers comp will provide. The construction industry is a particularly common source of work injury claims.
Understanding California Injury Law
Essential to winning compensation in a San Jose personal injury claim is a basic understanding of how the law works in California.
One legal concept you will want to familiarize yourself with is the standard of comparative negligence. This standard allows multiple parties—including you, the victim—to be found liable in a given accident, regardless of the amount of fault they carry.
For example, you may be found to have contributed in a minor way to your car accident, leaving you with some liability. Keep in mind that any legal liability you end up holding will directly eat away at any compensation you receive on a proportional basis. Being found 20 percent liable would result in you receiving only 80 percent of potential compensation.
You also want to keep in mind California’s statute of limitations, which gives San Jose accident victims two years from the date of their accident to file a personal injury claim.
A San Jose accident injury lawyer would be glad to explain these and any other tricky legal concepts to you.
What to Include In Your Claim
Once you’ve fully identified all culprits in your case, you will need to pinpoint the exact injuries and losses you have suffered. While it’s usually relatively easy to document your injuries, the process of identifying damages is more mystifying to many.
Losses can include anything that has adversely affected you in a financial, physical, or emotional sense. Examples of damages could include medical expenses, lost wages or earning potential, emotional distress, pain and suffering, lifestyle-related adjustments, loss of consortium, and worsened quality of life.
You will also want to account for how your losses have affected you in the past, are affecting you in the present, and are expected to affect you in the future.
Speak with a San Jose Accident Attorney
Whether your accident happened at work, on the road, at the grocery store, or in your own home, you might be entitled to personal injury compensation if someone else’s negligent or careless actions caused your injuries.
Although financial compensation can’t undo the pain you have experienced, it can help you fund a recovery that’s as quick and painless as possible.
To schedule a consultation with a San Jose accident lawyer, contact Golden State Lawyers, APC today. Give us a call at 408-279-4222 or find the contact form at the bottom of this page and enter your information.